Might a Flight of Swallows a Covey of Concerned Characters Beget?

The Western practice of grouping and classification extends beyond the natural world to the very identities and practices of the people who engage daily in acts of investigation, preservation, and even simple appreciation. Different institutions and pursuits create human dichotomies – practice or theory, conservation or scholarship, local or outsider. Within this professional and personal typology, cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional, and cross-cultural collaboration can prove challenging. Yet the power and necessity of such collaboration with regards to the human role in safeguarding our planet in all its spectacular diversity is well recognized. Taking up the familiar theme of biocultural conservation, and the parallels between biodiversity and linguistic diversity, this presentation briefly explores the triumphs and pitfalls of previous cross-expertise collaborations before turning to the birds to suggest a future model of biologically and culturally defined interrelationships that has the potential to further contribute to best practices in biocultural resilience and environmental protection.